Participants: Pr. John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000108A
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00:19 Hello, friends, welcome to another Wednesday night
00:21 Bible study here 00:23 at the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:25 We wanna greet you wherever you are 00:26 with a hearty amen. 00:28 Can we say amen tonight? Amen. 00:29 And thank you for taking the time to tune in 00:32 for this continued study 00:33 on "The Truth about Spiritual Babylon." 00:38 What a topic that has been. 00:40 And you know, the more I study this topic, 00:42 the more the Lord has revealed to me, 00:45 and I'm discovering how many chapters really 00:47 apply to this topic about spiritual Babylon. 00:50 So take the time tonight, 00:52 as you've chosen to tune in, 00:53 invite your family and friends. 00:55 And if you're joining us from one of the churches, 00:56 we thank you for tuning in. 00:58 But we're gonna sing our theme song tonight, 01:01 after we have our prayer. 01:02 I'll also tell you, 01:04 where you can get a copy of the lesson 01:05 to follow along with us tonight. 01:07 But first, let's go to the Lord in prayer. 01:09 Let's pray together. 01:11 Wonderful Father in heaven, 01:12 we thank You 01:13 that You alone are the one that reveals truth. 01:18 You are the way the truth and the life. 01:22 You are the light of the world. 01:23 And, Lord, tonight as we open Your Word, 01:26 shine that light we pray upon us. 01:29 Speak to our hearts as we walk through this book 01:32 that is too deep for human understanding, 01:36 yet is a book that shines with the great glory of God 01:39 and teach us, 01:40 but also strengthen us with a desire to know You 01:44 to follow the truth and to be Your disciple. 01:46 In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 01:50 Now, if you like a copy of the lesson, 01:52 go to this website, 01:54 you don't have to put www, 01:56 I think unless you have a PC, possibly, 01:59 but go to asf.3abn.org 02:04 and download lesson number 29, 02:06 "The Truth about Spiritual Babylon." 02:09 Now some people may say, 02:10 "I already downloaded that lesson." 02:12 But what you don't know 02:14 is I added more questions to it. 02:16 So each of us here has a new paper for tonight, 02:19 that is in addition to questions 1 through 17, 02:23 there should be a third page 02:24 with questions 18 down to 29. 02:28 We're gonna try to cover those tonight. 02:30 And so get a copy of that from that particular website. 02:34 And then if there are any other programs 02:37 that you've missed, 02:38 and chances are that's possible, 02:39 you can go to that very same website asf.3abn.org. 02:44 Download the lesson and print it out 02:46 and also go through the videos. 02:48 And you can also follow along and have a complete study 02:50 on about 25 topics thus far. 02:53 But tonight, 02:54 let's sing our theme song together 02:56 which is, "Victory," in? 02:57 Jesus. "In Jesus." 02:58 Let's sing the song together. 03:07 I heard an old, old story 03:11 How the Savior came from glory 03:15 How He gave His life on Calvary 03:19 To save a wretch like me 03:22 I heard about His groaning 03:26 Of His precious blood's atoning 03:30 Then I repented of my sin 03:34 And won the victory 03:37 O victory in Jesus 03:41 My Savior forever 03:45 He sought me and bought me 03:49 With His redeeming blood 03:53 He loved me ere I knew Him 03:56 And all my love is due Him 04:00 He plunged me to victory 04:04 Beneath the cleansing flood 04:08 I heard about a mansion 04:12 He has built for me in glory 04:15 And I heard about the streets of gold 04:19 Beyond the crystal sea 04:23 About the angels singing 04:27 And the old redemption story 04:30 And some sweet day I'll sing up there 04:34 The song of victory 04:37 Key change. 04:38 O victory in Jesus 04:42 My Savior forever 04:45 He sought me and bought me 04:49 With His redeeming blood 04:53 He loved me ere I knew Him 04:57 And all my love is due Him 05:01 He plunged me to victory 05:05 Beneath the cleansing flood 05:08 He plunged me to victory 05:12 Beneath the cleansing flood 05:18 Amen? Amen. 05:20 Well, we had a choir sing along with us. 05:22 That was wonderful. 05:24 You know this topic about 05:26 "The Truth about Spiritual Babylon" 05:29 is a topic that has caused me to go back 05:34 and to study those things 05:36 that I thought I knew very, very well. 05:39 And what I've discovered is 05:42 the things that were understood by me 05:45 have become enlightened. 05:47 And the Lord has allowed me to connect 05:50 other passages in scripture, 05:52 because Babylon 05:53 is one of the oldest dynasties the world has ever known. 05:57 And with it has come so many literal examples, 06:01 that when you look at the spiritual lessons 06:03 in Revelation, 06:05 then all of a sudden the pieces begin to fit. 06:07 For example, we talked about the Tower of...? 06:10 Babel. 06:11 The Tower of Babel, 06:14 or actually the Tower of Babel. 06:16 So when you say Babylon, we don't say Babylon, right? 06:19 The Tower of Babel, 06:21 which was the place where the languages 06:23 were first confused. 06:24 It was a structure built, because men did not trust God. 06:29 And so when you talk about the topic of spiritual Babylon, 06:33 it is a system built 06:34 that is not established on trusting God, 06:38 it was built because it does not trust God. 06:41 But what's so deceptive about it is, 06:44 and this is the place 06:45 where the balance has to come in, 06:47 is the people of God, 06:49 many people that love the Lord are in spiritual Babylon. 06:53 And so the message 06:54 is to come out of her My people. 06:57 Let's go to Revelation 18, very quickly. 06:59 Let's speak of that. 07:00 We've talked about this in a few past weeks. 07:04 But just to lay the foundation. 07:05 And the reason why this topic is so tender, 07:08 is that there are people that love the Lord 07:11 that are in churches all over the world, 07:13 in movements all over the world, 07:15 whether they are Christian based, 07:18 or whether they are New Age based, 07:21 there are people that sometimes have 07:22 a shallow understanding of who God is. 07:25 Some people say, they are followers of Jesus, 07:28 but because of where they are, 07:30 the messages are not that clearly understood. 07:33 And so tonight as we talk about 07:35 the truth about spiritual Babylon, 07:37 I say it again before I read the text, 07:39 there are people that are all over the world 07:40 that love the Lord, 07:43 and so God is not speaking about the people, 07:46 He's talking about the system. 07:48 What is He talking about? System. 07:49 The system. 07:51 So spiritual Babylon is a system, 07:53 a system upon which falsehoods, false teachings, 07:57 or lack of trust in God, deception, darkness, 08:00 and I go so far 08:02 as the Bible has described as demonic possession. 08:06 Because the Bible says in Revelation 18, 08:08 it has become the cage of every foul spirit, 08:11 unclean and hateful bird. 08:13 And demons dwell there, 08:15 not in a sense of Halloween, so to speak, 08:19 but in the sense of great darkness 08:21 and great deception. 08:22 And because God is not going to reform Babylon, 08:25 before He destroys it, 08:27 He's calling His people to do, what? 08:28 Come out. To come out. 08:29 Look at Revelation 18:1. 08:33 We're gonna go down to verse 4. 08:35 The Bible reads as follows, 08:37 "After these things, I saw another angel 08:41 coming down from heaven, having great authority, 08:45 and the earth was illuminated with His glory 08:48 or lightened with the glory. 08:51 And he cried," verse 2, 08:52 "He cried mightily with a loud voice, 08:55 saying, 'Babylon the great is," what? 08:58 Fallen. 08:59 "Is falling, is fallen, and has become the habitation," 09:03 notice this, "of demons or devils, 09:07 a prison for every foul spirit." 09:11 Notice the Holy Spirit's not there, 09:13 foul spirits are there, 09:14 "and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!'" 09:19 And here's what the impact of Babylon is. 09:23 Verse 3, "For all the nations have drunk 09:26 of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." 09:29 Now, when you look at that, 09:30 let me just read the rest of the verse, 09:32 and I'll just share with you 09:33 and it says and goes on, it says, 09:34 "The kings of the earth," that means political leaders, 09:36 and religious leaders alike, 09:38 secular leaders, the category is quite broad, 09:43 "have committed fornication with her, 09:45 and the merchants of the earth have become rich, 09:49 through the abundance of her luxury.'" 09:52 And so verse 4 is the key verse, 09:54 that pivotal verse. 09:56 "And I heard another voice from heaven saying," 09:58 let's read this together, "come out of her," what? 10:01 "My people, lest you share in her sins, 10:05 and lest you receive of her plagues.'" 10:08 In verse 5, it tells us, 10:09 "For her sins have reached unto heaven, 10:11 and God has remembered her iniquities." 10:14 Now in order to understand the power of verse 5, 10:16 you have to understand the actual Babel on the tower, 10:19 because God destroyed it. 10:21 And when you read Genesis 9, 10:22 the Bible talks about 10:24 that this tower has reached unto heaven. 10:28 They built this, this winding and no one really today, 10:32 we don't really have any artifacts or antiquities, 10:35 or obviously no pictures of how it looked. 10:38 But based on the culture, 10:40 it could have been a winding tower, 10:42 winding its way into the heavens, 10:44 and the Lord in the Word, in the Book of Genesis says, 10:47 the tower has reached into heaven. 10:49 And so when it says that Babylon 10:51 sins have reached into heaven, 10:53 that means it's soon time to destroy Babylon. 10:56 Amen? 10:57 Because when that tower reached to the heaven, 10:59 God came down, destroyed the tower 11:01 and scattered the people throughout all the earth. 11:04 So suffice it to say, from that point to this, 11:09 the people of God have been scattered 11:12 throughout the whole earth, 11:13 scattered throughout different denominations, 11:16 scattered through different movements. 11:18 And we are living in the day and age 11:19 with a message to spiritual Babylon 11:21 is God is calling His people back, 11:24 so that when He destroys the system, 11:27 none of His people are casualties 11:29 of that fault system. 11:31 Let's begin tonight with question number 18. 11:33 And by the way, the topic is 11:35 The Truth about Spiritual Babylon. 11:38 What's the topic? 11:39 The Truth about Spiritual Babylon. 11:43 Let's go to question number 18. 11:45 We're gonna begin there tonight. 11:47 I know last week we ended on question 20. 11:50 But just so we can get the full page 11:51 and because we'll discover 11:53 that there's a condition in the last days that exists, 11:57 that shows that 11:59 what God intended His church to be 12:01 is not really what it has become. 12:03 Look at Revelation Chapter, Isaiah Chapter 4. 12:06 But let's first read the question. 12:08 Here it is, question number 18. 12:10 What condition does the Bible tell us 12:13 will exist in the last days? 12:21 We find our answer in Isaiah Chapter 4. 12:24 And for those of you that are tuning in, 12:26 if you may not have a Bible, 12:28 we'll go ahead and give you the answer in just a moment. 12:29 Isaiah Chapter4. 12:32 It's amazing that the number seven 12:33 is going to be used in this passage, 12:36 because there are seven churches. 12:39 And we're living in the day and age 12:40 of the last church of the seven churches. 12:43 Here's the answer, Isaiah 4:1. 12:47 And the Bible says, "And in that day, 12:50 seven women shall take hold of," how many men? 12:55 Together, how many men? One. 12:56 "One man saying," notice the condition, 12:59 "'We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel. 13:03 Only let us be called by your name 13:06 to take away our reproach.'" 13:08 And so if you look at that together, 13:10 seven women, 13:11 a woman in prophecy represents what? 13:14 The church. 13:15 So the Bible is talking about a condition 13:16 that's very parallel 13:18 to the seven churches of Revelation. 13:21 You notice from the Church of Ephesus, 13:23 to the Church of Laodicea, seven conditions occurred. 13:27 It's amazing, we're living down in the Church of Laodicea, 13:29 and the Lord has no commendations, 13:31 nothing good at all to say about Laodicea. 13:34 Seven conditions, but how many Lords are there? 13:38 Come on. How many Lords are there? 13:39 One. 13:41 One man, all these churches 13:42 claim to be off springs of Christ. 13:45 But a part of the issue is, 13:47 many of them have their own righteousness. 13:49 Many of them 13:50 went through the periods of their own doctrines. 13:52 And when you go to Revelation, 13:54 and you look at the seven churches, 13:55 there was a time during the Dark Ages, 13:57 where so many doctrines came into existence 14:00 that had no scriptural support at all. 14:03 And we're gonna talk about some of those 14:04 when we get further into the topic. 14:06 So here's the answer you wanna put down. 14:08 The answer is... 14:10 What condition does the Bible tell us 14:11 will exist in the last days? 14:14 What's the condition? 14:19 Okay. 14:21 I wanna see, if I could pull it out of you. 14:24 They'll have their own righteousness, 14:27 they'll have their own doctrines, 14:29 all they want is the name Christian. 14:34 You can summarize that as you want. 14:37 And you'll discover today 14:38 that many people are very comfortable 14:41 with the name Christian, 14:42 but not comfortable 14:44 with the requirements of Christianity. 14:45 It's one thing... 14:47 And by the way, 14:48 when you go to The Ten Commandments, 14:52 the Lord says, 14:53 "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." 14:57 So there are many who say, 14:59 "Well, I'm connected to Christ." 15:01 But when you begin to check the bloodline, 15:03 and the references and what they teach, 15:06 you almost say, "Well, who did you say, you know? 15:09 And it's evident 15:10 that much of what exists in Christianity today, 15:13 has not come from the fruit tree of Christ, 15:16 has not come from the Word of God. 15:20 But let's go to the next one, the very next one. 15:24 Okay, question number 19. 15:27 What is bread compared to in the Bible? 15:35 Let's go to Matthew. 15:38 Matthew Chapter 4, 15:40 one of the favorite passages in the Bible, 15:43 actually, most people know by heart. 15:46 But for the benefit of our audience, 15:48 and those who may not know it, verbatim, 15:51 we'll go ahead and look at it together. 15:54 What is bread compared to in the Bible? 15:56 I remember growing up, 16:00 the lady that raised me was from Trinidad 16:02 from the West Indies. 16:03 And she would always talk about the difference between 16:06 West Indian bread and American bread. 16:09 And she'd go to the store and buy a loaf of bread. 16:12 And she'll say, "Look, American bread," 16:14 and she'll crumpled up in her hand, 16:15 it will become a little ball. 16:17 This is so spongy, and so much air. 16:19 But then she'll make West Indian bread, 16:21 and then she'll cut and said, 16:23 "Now this is bread, solid, wholesome." 16:26 Anybody know what I'm talking about? 16:28 You know, a lot of people they make, 16:29 sometimes the bread you find and there are so... 16:31 And you know what? 16:33 You can actually take a whole loaf of bread, 16:34 wonder bread, and if you want to, 16:36 you could just press the whole loaf together, 16:38 and it will come down to about just that. 16:41 But you can't do that 16:42 with bread that's made in the West Indies 16:44 or in other countries. 16:45 I want to just give other people the opportunity 16:47 to get on the cart. 16:49 But good solid bread with wholesome nutrition in it, 16:53 like whole wheat and Lithuanian bread, 16:58 you know, whenever we go to our good friend, 16:59 and we have Lithuanian bread. 17:01 Man, you could have maybe four slices 17:04 before the fiber fills you up. 17:06 But American bread, I mean, the ones in the store, 17:10 you can just pack it all together. 17:11 But the Bible does have an association 17:14 to the particular idea about bread. 17:18 Here it is in Matthew 4:4. 17:20 Speaking of Jesus, "But he answered and said, 17:24 'It is written,' together, 'Man shall not live by,' what? 17:28 'Bread alone, but by every word 17:32 that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 17:35 And so bread is a parallel to the Word of God. 17:40 You know, there's a company, I think it's a... 17:43 I think it's a Baptist organization 17:45 that have been producing these little books, 17:47 it's called Our Daily Bread. 17:49 Anybody heard about that? 17:50 I mean, I collected those for years, 17:52 because some wonderful devotions in those. 17:55 When I was in Inherited Singers, 17:57 we, you know, we travel from one church to the other, 17:59 one denomination to the other, 18:01 and some of those books I have gone back to the 80s, 18:04 but wonderful stories. 18:06 So the Word of God is compared to bread. 18:08 So let's go and add another component to that. 18:10 If you think about the Word of God being bread, 18:12 and the condition in Isaiah 4:1 says, 18:14 "We will eat our own bread." 18:18 Do we have more than one translation 18:19 of the Bible today? 18:21 Yes or no? 18:22 And when you begin to compare them, 18:24 sometimes you'll say, 18:26 "Where do they get that from?" 18:28 There are actually some translations 18:29 that will omit an entire passage. 18:33 Let me give you one example. 18:34 And you can look this up yourself. 18:36 I'll go ahead and quote the text. 18:38 Romans 8:1, 18:41 "There is therefore now no condemnation, 18:45 to those who are in Christ Jesus, 18:47 who walk not according to the flesh, 18:49 but according to the Spirit." 18:51 That's the King James, 18:52 and the New King James Version. 18:53 But the NIV is this, 18:55 "There is therefore now no condemnation 18:57 to those who are in Christ Jesus. 19:00 Verse 2 is cut out. 19:02 And the key element of the non-condemnation is, 19:05 who walk not according to the flesh, 19:08 but according to the Spirit. 19:12 So to be not condemned, 19:13 you've got to walk righteously, 19:15 amen someone? 19:16 You got to walk not according to the flesh, 19:18 but according to the Spirit. 19:20 But it's being taught today that 19:22 as long as you're in Jesus, that's all that matters. 19:25 It's not that shallow. It's not that simple. 19:27 The Lord wants us to be 19:29 more than people that profess to know Him. 19:30 He wants us to know Him by our lives, ain't that right? 19:33 Let's look at another one. 19:34 Let's go to question number 20 now. 19:37 Question number 20. 19:38 So you wanna put 19:39 what is bread compared to in the Bible. 19:42 It is compared to the Bible, God's Word, 19:44 your daily nourishment, your spiritual food. 19:46 Matter of fact, when you read 19:48 the story of the children of Israel in Exodus 16, 19:50 the Lord fed them bread every day. 19:52 And when the New Testament, 19:55 Israelites had an encounter with Jesus, 19:58 He said to them, 20:01 "Moses didn't really give you bread 20:04 in the wilderness. 20:06 My father did. 20:07 I am the bread that came down from heaven." 20:10 The comparison, 20:11 every day, the Lord rain bread from heaven. 20:14 And so when the true bread came, 20:17 the same Israelites 20:18 whose generations before ate bread, 20:21 all of a sudden, 20:23 the real bread shows up and they say, 20:25 "And who are you?" 20:27 And that's the problem. 20:28 Many people traditionally can lose sight of who Jesus is. 20:33 What is clothing compared to in the Bible? 20:35 Let's go to Revelation 19:8, 20:37 Revelation 19:8. 20:40 What is clothing compared to in the Bible? 20:42 Revelation 19, 20:44 and we're going to look together at verse 8. 20:47 And these are some of the passages 20:49 that some of you have already filled in. 20:52 But to get the whole picture together, 20:54 we went ahead and covered these again. 20:57 Revelation 19:8, here's the answer, 21:00 and speaking to her, that's to the church. 21:02 "And to her it was granted to be arrayed in," 21:06 what kind of linen? 21:07 Fine. 21:08 "Fine linen, clean and," what else? 21:11 "Bright, for the fine linen 21:14 is the righteous acts of the saints." 21:18 Okay, so what is clothing compared to? 21:21 According to the Bible in Revelation 19:8, 21:23 clothing is compared to what? 21:26 Righteousness. 21:28 Now how do you know that? 21:30 When Adam and Eve sinned, 21:32 what did they lose? 21:35 They lost Christ's righteousness. 21:37 And when He came to find them, 21:39 why did they hide themselves? 21:41 Because they didn't have on what? 21:42 Clothe. Clothing! 21:43 They lost the clothing, the righteousness of Christ. 21:47 Clothing is compared to righteousness. 21:50 You wanna write that down on the first line, 21:52 Revelation 19:8, 21:53 clothing is compared to righteousness. 21:56 And one more verse, Revelation 16:15, 21:59 it'll appear on the screen for you. 22:01 Revelation 16:15. 22:03 Notice what the Lord says, 22:04 and this is a direct comparison to Genesis. 22:06 Here's what the Bible teaches. 22:09 "Behold, I am coming as a," what? 22:11 "Thief. 22:12 Blessed is he who watches and keeps his," what? 22:16 "Garments, lest he walk naked, and they," do what? 22:20 "See his shame." 22:22 It's amazing. 22:23 Directly correlated to what Adam said, 22:26 when he heard the voice of the Lord 22:28 walking in the garden, in the cool of the day. 22:31 He said, "I was ashamed, 22:36 because I was naked, 22:38 and I hid myself." 22:41 So here you go. 22:42 When Jesus comes back 22:44 or let's go ahead and see the comparison. 22:46 This is huge. Revelation 16. 22:48 I could give it to you, 22:49 but I don't want to spoon feed you. 22:51 I want you, Revelation 16, 22:53 and since you're already there, 22:55 we're gonna go ahead and look at... 22:59 Here we are. 23:01 Actually not Revelation 16, Revelation 6, okay? 23:05 Revelation 6. 23:07 And we're gonna go ahead and look 23:10 at verse 14 23:14 down to verse 17. 23:17 Revelation 6:14-17. 23:19 Now what did Adam do when he knew that he was naked? 23:22 What did he do? Somebody tell me? 23:24 He hid himself, right? 23:26 Notice what's gonna happen when the Lord returns, 23:30 and there are those that are not covered 23:31 by His righteousness. 23:33 Here we are, Revelation 6:14, the Bible says, 23:36 "Then the sky receded as a scroll 23:40 when it is rolled up or rolled together, 23:42 and every mountain and island was," what? 23:45 "Moved out of its place." 23:47 And notice this, 23:49 the same ones that have allegiance with Babylon, 23:51 "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, 23:54 the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, 23:59 every slave and every free man, 24:02 say the next two words together. 24:04 Hidden. 24:06 "Hid themselves in the caves 24:08 and in the rocks of the mountains, 24:10 and said," verse 16, "to the mountains and rocks, 24:14 'Fall on us and," do what? 24:16 "Hide us from the face of Him, 24:19 who sits on the throne, 24:21 and from the wrath of the Lamb.'" 24:23 In verse 17, 24:24 "For the great day of His wrath has come, 24:28 and who is able to stand?" 24:29 Why are they hiding? 24:31 I tell you why they're hiding. 24:32 Look at Revelation 16:15, the answer we got, 24:35 bring that one once more up on the screen for me, 24:37 that text we just had, Revelation 16:15. 24:39 Why are they hiding? 24:41 Here it is. 24:42 The Lord says, "Behold, I come as a thief. 24:46 Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, 24:48 lest he walked naked, and they," what? 24:50 "See his shame." 24:51 So now, 24:53 in order for their shame not to appear, 24:55 what do they want to do? 24:56 They want to, one word. They want to do what? 24:58 Hide. Hide. 25:01 They're running to the rocks, and the mountains, hide. 25:04 They're saying hide us from the face. 25:06 We don't want Him to see us this way. 25:08 We don't want Him to see us without His righteousness. 25:12 You know, when I used to party, 25:14 most of you may remember, 25:16 if any of you have ever had that in your past, 25:19 but clubs, at least the ones I went to were pretty dark, 25:23 bars. 25:24 If you ever drive down 25:26 to even down the main street here in Thompsonville, 25:27 and it was not Thompsonville, but West Frankfort, 25:29 you're driving down, 25:30 you just see the open sign or the bar sign, 25:32 but it's pretty dark. 25:35 Whenever the parties were ending 25:37 in the clubs that I attended, 25:39 they would turn the lights on, 25:40 and you know what people would do? 25:44 And then all of a sudden 25:45 the person that really looked good in the dark, 25:48 you see them for who they really are. 25:49 And they think, 25:51 "Boy, 25:52 she's not as pretty as I thought she was." 25:54 And so things that appear to look one way in the dark, 25:58 when the light comes on, 26:00 what they really look like is revealed. 26:03 When Jesus comes, 26:04 is it going to be bright, yes or no? 26:05 Yes. It's gonna be quite bright. 26:08 The earth is gonna be lightened with His glory 26:10 and everything that is hidden will be 26:12 revealed the way it is before God. 26:15 All right. 26:17 So let's go to number 21. 26:18 The answer once again, 26:20 clothing is compared 26:21 to the garments of righteousness 26:24 in Revelation 16:15. 26:27 Now let's go to question number 21, 26:30 question number 21, all right? 26:34 Here's the question. 26:36 How does the Bible describe the affect 26:39 of the harlot's wine? 26:46 And we're gonna look to Revelation 17. 26:49 And we're gonna look together at verse 2, 26:52 Revelation 17:2. Wow! 26:56 After you read this, I wanna make a comment 26:58 so that you can understand the great implication here. 27:01 All right. Here's the answer. 27:03 Revelation 17:2, 27:05 and we read, the word of the Lord says, 27:08 "With whom the kings of the earth," did what? 27:11 "Committed fornication," 27:13 that's an illicit relationship, 27:16 one not authorized by God, 27:18 "and the inhabitants of the earth were made," what? 27:21 "Drunk with the wine of her fornication." 27:24 Now, I want to break that down, because this is huge. 27:26 First of all, the kings of the earth 27:28 have created an allegiance with her 27:30 that God has not approved. 27:33 In other words, God says, "I'm not in that," 27:35 and they may use God 27:36 to create the allegiance, 27:38 but God is saying, "I am not in that. 27:41 That's fornication. 27:42 This is an unauthorized relationship." 27:46 And here's the point. 27:48 You see today in the world, and I just wanna make this... 27:50 We wanna make this comment right here. 27:53 That there is a political 27:55 and religious push in our world, 27:58 for there to be a type of Christian unity, 28:01 but the basis on 28:02 which the Christian unity is urged 28:03 is not supported by scripture. 28:05 People say, "Let's get together," 28:07 and they choose the categories 28:08 that they want to get together on, 28:10 but they're not getting together 28:11 on the truth of God's Word. 28:13 A second thing I wanna point out very clearly, 28:15 and I preface this by saying, 28:16 and I'm not speaking about people, 28:18 but particularly about a system. 28:20 You'll discover that the Vatican 28:22 has not only been recognized by world governments, 28:26 but demands recognition by world governments. 28:30 And so world governments, many of them, bow to his... 28:33 What's the word that he used is a, 28:36 well, his Vaticanship. 28:38 I'm gonna use a word that doesn't even exist. 28:40 But many people bow and consider him 28:42 the world authority on spiritual things. 28:45 And it does not exist that way. 28:47 But if you follow the history of Catholicism, 28:49 you'll discover in that particular religion, 28:51 there's a lot of darkness, a lot of false doctrines 28:54 that are not supported by God's Word. 28:56 Yet, on the power of that system, 29:00 governments of nations all around the world 29:03 sent ambassadors 29:05 as representatives to a holy power, 29:09 connecting politics and religion together, 29:12 accordingly, committing fornication. 29:14 God does not connect His church to the world. 29:18 God does not connect His church to the politics. 29:21 Just simply look at the examples 29:22 in the scriptures. 29:23 The church was separate from Rome. 29:25 God kept the Roman government and the church separate. 29:28 Another thing is, 29:30 it says the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk, 29:32 which means when they drink what Babylon is giving them, 29:36 and that's doctrinally they become intoxicated. 29:39 And what happens when you're intoxicated. 29:41 Let me just ask the question in the basic, yes or no. 29:43 Can you walk straight if you're drunk? 29:45 No. You can't walk straight. 29:47 Can you see straight? 29:48 No. Okay. 29:49 Can you think straight? No. 29:51 Now you understand why it's so hard 29:53 to tell people the truth 29:55 that are intoxicated by the messages 29:57 in the doctrines of Babylon 29:58 until they're detoxed, 30:01 which is the work of the Holy Spirit. 30:02 And by the way, 30:03 let me just give you this encouraging word. 30:06 When a person gives the Holy Spirit consent 30:08 to come into her, his life or her life, 30:11 all of a sudden the Lord begins to clear away 30:13 all the intoxication. 30:15 What's that? What's that? 30:16 When you're opposite to intoxicated, what are you? 30:20 Say it? Say it again? 30:22 Sober. Sober! 30:24 And doesn't the Lord say in 1 Peter 5:8, 30:26 "Be sober, be," what? 30:28 "Vigilant." 30:30 When you're sober, you're alert. 30:31 When you're sober, 30:33 you can hear, you can see, 30:34 you can differentiate, 30:37 you can tell what's going on. 30:38 "Be sober, be vigilant 30:39 because your adversary, the devil, 30:41 walks around like a roaring lion, 30:43 roaring lion seeking whom he may," what? 30:45 "Devour." He does that. 30:47 So he uses the church in his final arsenal. 30:50 He uses those things with a Christian label 30:54 as his final arsenal. 30:55 Go to Matthew Chapter 24. 30:56 Let's see this. 30:58 Matthew Chapter 24, all right? 31:03 Some people think, "Well, as long as I joined the church, 31:05 I'm safe." 31:07 As the kids would say in the past, 31:09 "Nah, you have to stand on the truth." 31:12 You just can't pick a building and say, 31:14 "I'm okay on the inside." 31:16 You have to make sure that what's happening on the inside 31:18 is authorized by God's Word. 31:20 I thought it was very amazing 31:21 that one of the first things 31:22 that Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 24, 31:24 about the signs of the last days. 31:26 Look at Matthew 24:3-4, 31:30 just these two verses, and verse 5, 31:33 okay? 31:35 Matthew 24:3, 31:37 "Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, 31:39 the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 31:42 'Tell us when shall these things be? 31:44 And what shall be the sign of Your coming, 31:47 and the end of the age or the end of the world?'" 31:49 In other words, tell us what these signs are gonna be. 31:52 Look at the first thing Jesus says in verse 4, 31:55 "Jesus answered and said to them, 31:57 'Take heed that no one," together, "deceives you.'" 32:01 Wow! 32:04 How we gonna know that we're living in the end? 32:06 Jesus is saying, 32:07 "There's gonna be a lot of deception." 32:10 A lot of what? Deception. 32:12 Be careful that no one deceives you. 32:16 And so I say this again, 32:18 to the listening and viewing audience, 32:19 not everything labeled Christian 32:21 is from God's Word. 32:24 That's a fact. Jesus made it clear. 32:25 And look what it says in verse 5. 32:28 "For many will come in My name..." 32:30 Remember we read earlier? 32:32 Only let us be called by your name. 32:34 See? 32:36 "Many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ." 32:40 And will do what? 32:41 "Deceive many.'" 32:44 He says many people are gonna do that. 32:46 Now look at verse 11. 32:49 Verse 11, of the same chapter, 32:51 Matthew 24. 32:53 "Then many false prophets will rise up and," what else? 32:59 "Deceive many." 33:01 Are we living in the last days? 33:02 Amen? Yes. 33:04 Of course, we are. 33:05 So if you're waiting for deception to come, 33:07 stop, look, listen, it's all around us. 33:11 Deception is rampant. 33:13 And unfortunately, 33:14 it's under the guise of Christianity 33:16 in many respects. 33:17 Look at... Go with me to 2 Corinthians. 33:21 I want you to see this. 33:22 The devil, see... 33:25 Can't understand, the devil is not, 33:26 some people think, he's this red horned guy 33:29 that shows up on pepper bottles and all that 33:32 and comes out in during Halloween, 33:33 oh, nothing is further from the truth. 33:36 I mean, that's just not who he is. 33:38 He wants you to think of him 33:39 as some nonsensical character, 33:41 some fictitious person 33:43 that just shows up every now and then. 33:45 But he has quite a large arsenal of deception. 33:49 And let me go further. 33:50 Not only does he have churches that deceive, 33:52 but he has his own group of ministers he is hired. 33:56 Look at 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. 34:00 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. 34:06 Look at it. 34:07 Wow! 34:09 Wow! 34:10 Paul addressed false apostleship here. 34:13 He says in verse 13, 34:14 "For such are false apostles," 34:17 what kind of workers? 34:19 "Deceitful workers," and get this. 34:22 They're not transformed by God, 34:24 "Transforming themselves 34:26 into apostles of Christ." 34:27 Let me pause. 34:29 I tell you, this is powerful. 34:31 You can buy religious outfits, 34:36 you can look religious. 34:38 You can buy a police uniform, 34:40 you can get by an army uniform. 34:41 You can go to a store and buy collar, 34:43 look like clergy. 34:45 You can look like a doctor. 34:47 It's not what's on the outside, 34:49 but it's what's happening where? 34:50 On the inside. 34:52 They transform themselves. 34:54 They have terms like Reverend, 34:56 in Bishop, in Holy Father, 34:58 and Pastor and Minister, 35:00 you got to be careful with those titles. 35:01 Don't let the title fool you. 35:03 Just check out where their source comes from. 35:06 Because look at the next verse. 35:08 "And no wonder," 35:10 King James Version says, "and no marvel," 35:12 don't be shocked, "for Satan himself, 35:16 transforms himself into an angel of light." 35:20 Notice what I want you to get right here, 35:22 the transformation that what you see, 35:25 God has nothing to do with it. 35:26 They're transforming themselves, 35:28 like Satan transforms himself. 35:30 There are ministers today that transformed themselves. 35:34 And look at verse 15. 35:36 "Therefore, it is no great thing, 35:39 if his ministers also transform themselves 35:44 into ministers of righteousness, 35:48 whose end will be according to their works." 35:52 And so today, 35:54 the word transform appears in all three of those verses, 35:57 transforming, Satan transforms, 36:00 and ministers transform themselves. 36:02 But if you think about what they do, 36:04 if you think about what they do, 36:05 what they teach, what they represent. 36:09 The Lord is saying, 36:11 that has no connection to Me whatsoever. 36:14 Satan is behind it. 36:15 He looks like an angel of light. 36:17 And he's got some ministers 36:18 that look like ministers of righteousness. 36:21 But in the end, 36:23 it will all be clear 36:24 where the source of their teachings 36:25 have come from. 36:27 So let's go to the very next question. 36:28 Did we answer number? 36:30 How does the Bible describe 36:31 the effect of the harlot's wine? 36:33 Drunk. 36:34 Drunk. Intoxication. 36:36 When you drink it, you're gonna get drunk. 36:40 I just think about the thought of somebody, 36:42 we're gonna go to question 22 in a moment here. 36:43 I think about 36:45 what somebody said to me not too long ago, 36:47 that had been resisting the Bible's message 36:50 about the Sabbath for 30 years. 36:52 It's amazing. 36:54 They just, they finally gave up, 36:55 that the Spirit of God broke through 36:58 and they gave their hearts to the Lord, 36:59 and they said this. 37:00 This is so enlightening. 37:04 They said, 37:05 "When I accepted the Bible Sabbath, 37:08 all of a sudden, 37:10 other things started becoming clear." 37:13 Amen? 37:14 Amen. 37:16 When you accept truth, 37:17 it's like turning the light on. 37:19 You cannot turn the light off 37:22 and expect to see when you're in darkness. 37:24 You really can't. 37:26 Whether that darkness 37:27 is because you are following someone who's blind, 37:30 that's a travesty. 37:31 Because the Bible says, if the blind leads the blind, 37:34 are any of them safe? 37:36 What happens to both of them? 37:37 They both fall into the pit. 37:39 You can't say to the guy that's blind, 37:41 "Hey, I'm following you. 37:44 I'm okay because I'm following..." 37:45 If you're both blind, 37:48 what's gonna happen? 37:49 You both are gonna fall into the pit. 37:51 And you know what? Blindness today is voluntary. 37:55 Spiritual blindness. 37:56 Some people will hear 37:58 the truth about the commandments and they say, 37:59 "I don't care about the commandments." 38:01 Some people hear about the Sabbath, 38:02 "That's for the Jews, 38:04 that was nailed to the cross, 38:05 that's done away with, 38:07 that's Old Testament." 38:08 They got all these demonic excuses for it. 38:09 I'm gonna be very clear, 38:11 I'm not gonna tiptoe through the tulips. 38:12 All these excuses for disobedience 38:15 are not from Christ. 38:16 You cannot claim to be Christian, 38:19 yet be recalcitrant, 38:21 and disobedient to God's Word and say, 38:23 "Hey, I'm saved anyway." 38:25 That's deception. That's intoxication. 38:27 That is exactly what happens 38:28 when you accept the doctrines of the harlot 38:31 over the Word of God, amen? 38:32 Amen. Let's go to number 22. 38:35 This is not a tiptoe through the tulips type of program. 38:38 You want to watch that, go to Sesame Street, 38:39 but not this channel. 38:41 Here we go. 38:43 What is the purpose of the wine 38:45 that the harlot uses? 38:47 Whoo! 38:48 This will really open you up. 38:49 What is the purpose of the wine 38:51 that the harlot uses? 38:53 Proverbs 20:1. 38:55 We're gonna go and look at that together. 38:57 Go to Proverbs 20:1. 39:00 What is the purpose of the wine 39:02 that the harlot uses? 39:04 You know, the devil's really clever 39:05 on what he chooses. 39:08 We lived in Napa Valley. 39:10 I'm gonna just tell you the story very quickly. 39:12 We lived in California. 39:14 We lived in Vallejo, California. 39:16 We lived in Fairfield, California, 39:17 both of them very close to Napa Valley. 39:19 My wife worked in Napa Valley, 39:21 beautiful vine, it's called the vine country. 39:23 And I thought about that just a moment ago 39:25 as I'm thinking this story. 39:27 The Devil's got a vine country. 39:29 He picks the vine that will serve best 39:32 the results in your life. 39:34 I just thought about that. That's just amazing. 39:36 The devil's got his own vineyard, 39:39 producing grapes 39:40 to intoxicate the inhabitants of the earth. 39:43 I remember we went to, 39:45 it's a funny story, we went to Napa Valley. 39:47 We took some friends there and they want to see 39:49 all the vineyards and the grapes 39:50 and was just a beautiful place. 39:52 We rode our bikes out there. 39:53 We had our fiat, I mean our trailer once 39:55 and parked out there on the weekend 39:57 and just had a wonderful weekend. 39:58 You know what I like about California? 40:00 No bugs, amen? 40:01 Amen. 40:02 No bugs. 40:04 They all live in the East 40:05 or on the Midwest. 40:08 But we took some friends to this vineyard 40:09 and we thought, 40:10 "There's nothing here that we could taste. 40:12 There's nothing here that we wanna taste." 40:15 So we asked, "Okay, you know, we have Martinellie's?" 40:18 You know, we have this non-alcoholic stuff. 40:19 So we thought, 40:21 "Surely they have to think about people 40:22 that don't drink alcohol." 40:23 So we said, "You have anything non alcoholic?" 40:25 They said, "Sure. We have two. 40:26 We have a peach non-alcoholic, 40:28 we have a strawberry non-alcoholic." 40:30 Non-alcoholic, right?" 40:32 "Non-alcoholic." "Okay. Can we taste it? 40:35 Non-alcoholic, right?" Non-alcoholic." 40:37 So, peach they opened up and had a taste it. 40:40 "Whoo! 40:42 You know, we'll buy one. 40:43 We'll take one. 40:45 We'll take it home, special occasion." 40:47 You know, we have Martinellie's 40:48 you know, Sparkling Cider. 40:50 "So since you have something a little different, 40:52 we'll go and take this home." 40:53 We are driving home 40:56 and I started being a lot happier than I usually am 41:00 while I drive. 41:01 And I'm thinking, "Whoo! 41:02 It's a very wonderful day. It's warm, isn't it?" 41:05 And we get home 41:07 and we read on the bottle, 41:08 0.3, no, 3% alcohol. 41:12 3% alcohol. 41:14 I said, "He said it was non-alcoholic." 41:16 Well to an alcoholic 3% may mean nothing. 41:19 It may not give them a buzz. 41:20 But I tell you this is huge. Lesson is powerful. 41:25 When you don't bring, 41:26 when you don't ingest the wine of Babylon, 41:30 you can tell, if you just sip it, 41:33 that it's going to intoxicate you. 41:35 Is that powerful? 41:37 We knew right away 41:38 there was something wrong with it. 41:40 Here's my point. 41:41 When you live by the truth, 41:43 the moment 41:45 that a false doctrine is brought to your ear, 41:49 you can see the effect right away. 41:50 "You can say wait a minute, there's something wrong. 41:53 There's something in this I know." 41:55 And when you read the label, 41:57 you can tell that it is not pure. 41:59 So here's my point. 42:01 There may be 3% alcohol, 42:03 5% alcohol, 42:04 or as in the case of vodka, 42:06 120% proof, 42:09 but it's gonna still do the same thing. 42:11 It's gonna intoxicate you. 42:13 The more you take in false teachings, 42:15 it is going to intoxicate you. 42:18 Look at the answer here. 42:20 Question number 22. 42:22 The answer here is very careful. 42:25 Proverbs 20:1, 42:28 look at it. What it says? 42:29 "Wine is a," what? 42:31 "Mocker. 42:32 Strong drink is," what? 42:34 "Raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is," what? 42:39 "Not wise." 42:41 So the answer is... 42:42 What is the purpose of the wine 42:44 that the harlot uses? 42:45 The purpose of the wine is to deceive. 42:48 Don't forget that. 42:50 Deceive the deceiver. 42:54 You know, what's amazing to me 42:56 is Jesus when He said He was gonna rise again, 43:00 the Roman government called Him a deceiver. 43:04 But He was non intoxicated. 43:07 Amen? Amen. 43:08 The devil tries to label those who stand for truth 43:10 as the ones who don't have truth. 43:13 That's another tactic of the devil. 43:15 Jesus who is the truth, 43:16 they said, "Don't listen to Him. 43:19 He's a deceiver." 43:20 Now let me make some application. 43:22 Sometimes we try to tell people 43:23 about the truth in God's Word, 43:25 the truth about the Commandments of God, 43:26 the Sabbath of God, the truth that you are not. 43:28 You don't go to heaven when you die. 43:30 There is no eternally burning hell, 43:31 there is no secret rapture. 43:33 And people that are intoxicated 43:36 are told by their pastors, 43:38 "Don't listen to them. 43:39 They're trying to deceive you." 43:41 That's what the devil has been doing for centuries. 43:44 So when we teach you the truth, 43:45 if it comes from God's Word, 43:47 amen? 43:48 If it comes from God's Word, can you trust it? 43:51 Yes. Will it intoxicate you? 43:52 No. 43:54 It'll clear up your vision 43:55 and anything in your veins that does toxify you, 43:58 you surely will be detoxed. 44:00 God's Word has the power to do that. 44:02 So what is the purpose 44:06 of the wine that the harlot uses? 44:07 The purpose of it, 44:08 write that down on the number 22, 44:10 the purpose of it is to do, what? 44:12 Deceive. 44:13 That's where we are. We're living in the last days. 44:15 When Jesus says, "Take heed that no one deceive you." 44:17 Today, brothers and sisters, 44:19 Satan has a winery 44:21 and he's intoxicated the whole world. 44:23 Anybody who rejects the truth will be intoxicated. 44:26 Look at number 23. 44:27 Let's move right along. 44:29 What does the wine of Babylon do to those that drink it? 44:33 Okay. 44:34 What does the wine of Babylon do to those that drink it? 44:37 You may think it's the same thing, 44:38 but there's some other answers to it. 44:40 It doesn't just intoxicate you. 44:42 It does something else. 44:43 Okay, Proverbs 23:33. 44:46 Go there with me. 44:47 What is the wine of Babylon do to those that drink it? 44:51 Wow! Whoo! 44:52 This is amazing! 44:54 I tell you right now the Spirit of God 44:55 is flowing in this place. 44:57 I feel such a connection with God. 44:59 Thank you, Lord, 45:00 that my mind is clear and He's sharing with me things 45:03 that even though I put this together, 45:05 I tell you right now, 45:06 it's so clear with me 45:08 that I'm just praising God for what we're gonna read. 45:09 Let me go to the verse, Proverbs 23:33. 45:13 Here's what the Bible teaches. 45:15 Here it is, together. 45:16 Let's read this one together. 45:18 What does the wine do? 45:19 Together, "Your eyes will," what? 45:22 "See strange things, 45:24 and your heart will utter," what? 45:26 "Perverse things." 45:28 Now, this is huge. 45:29 This is powerful. 45:32 You wonder where some of those crazy sermons come from? 45:36 Your heart will utter perverse things. 45:39 When somebody is intoxicated by the wine of Babylon, 45:42 you will hear 45:44 some of the strangest sermons preached. 45:46 And you'll say, 45:47 as a person that's not intoxicated, 45:51 you say, "This is not in God's Word." 45:54 But some preachers will preach messages 45:55 as though they found it in God's Word. 45:57 You know why? 45:59 Because their hearts are uttering perverse things. 46:01 And then they'll look at the plain teachings 46:04 of God's Word, 46:06 and they'll miss it. 46:07 Why? 46:09 Because when you're intoxicated, 46:11 your eyes will see strange things. 46:14 You can't see the truth when you're drunk. 46:17 You cannot see the truth when you're intoxicated, 46:19 isn't that clear? 46:20 That's what's happening today. 46:21 That's why it's so hard. 46:23 You know, sometimes you try to say to somebody... 46:25 And my wife and I, we travel, 46:26 we take tracks with us everywhere we go, 46:28 get an opportunity. 46:29 We give magazine, give my card, 46:31 sometimes a CD, but we put tracks in there. 46:34 And we say to people now read it, 46:36 there's my email, get in touch with me, 46:38 and you'll be amazed. 46:40 What the Lord wants to do 46:41 is He wants to clear up the eyes 46:43 and clear up the heart, 46:45 so that people won't see strange things. 46:47 They'll see the truth of God's Word. 46:48 Amen? 46:51 David prayed the prayer. 46:53 Open thou mine eyes 46:55 that I may behold wonderful things 46:57 out of Your law. 46:59 When a person's eyes are clouded by intoxication, 47:03 they can't see God's law is wonderful. 47:05 You know, they say God's law is, 47:07 "Oh, that law, if you follow that law, 47:10 you're bound to the Old Covenant. 47:13 That law is for those 47:15 who're trying to work their way to heaven." 47:17 That's what an intoxicated person 47:19 sees the law as... 47:22 It's been nailed to the cross. 47:25 But I'll tell you what, as a good friend of mine 47:26 is involved in prison ministry, he said, 47:28 "When you go to the prisons, the prisoners know 47:31 that God's law is still in effect." 47:33 Amen? Amen. 47:35 They, prison ministry, 47:37 you can get more converts in prison ministry 47:39 than you can get on people walking in the streets. 47:42 You know why? 47:43 Because those who broke the law 47:44 know that it still exists. 47:47 So when you go and preach in prisons, 47:48 they come out, they sing loud, they don't get tired, 47:52 when the call is to give their lives to Lord, 47:54 you get baptisms galore in prisons. 47:56 But people that are walking the streets, 47:58 their eyes are seeing strange things 48:00 and when they speak that's not from God's Word, 48:02 their lips utter perverse things. 48:04 So let's put the answer down. 48:06 What does the wine of Babylon do to those that drink? 48:10 It messes with your eyes, and it messes with your heart. 48:14 It messes with your eyes, and it messes with your heart. 48:20 And you could put other things. 48:21 You will say strange things 48:23 that are not connected to God's Word. 48:24 All that comes out of that particular passage. 48:27 These are passages that I've read for years, 48:28 but all of a sudden in the context 48:29 of the topic of Babylon, and wine, 48:32 man, it just comes out, it explodes. 48:34 Number 24. 48:36 Let's try to move right on to that. 48:37 Number 24. 48:39 All right, here we go. 48:40 What are the actions of leaders affected by false teachings? 48:45 Wow! 48:46 What are the actions of leaders affected by false teachings? 48:50 We're gonna go to the Book of Ezekiel. 48:53 Ezekiel saw the wheel. 48:55 Ezekiel is right before Daniel. 48:57 Go to Daniel. Most of you can find Daniel. 49:00 Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, just go backward 49:03 and you'll find that good old big book called Ezekiel. 49:07 Okay, remember that song, "Ezekiel saw the wheel?" 49:11 That's the book we're going to. Okay. 49:13 What are the actions of leaders affected by false teachings? 49:17 Whoo! This is powerful. 49:18 This is huge. 49:21 Thank God for the clear word. 49:23 Here it is. Here it is. 49:25 "Her priests have," done what? 49:29 "Violated My law and," done what else? 49:31 "Profane My holy things, 49:34 they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, 49:41 nor have they made known 49:43 the difference between the," what? 49:46 "Unclean and the clean." 49:48 What else have they done? 49:50 "And they have hidden their eyes from my," what? 49:53 "Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them." 49:57 Did Ezekiel hit a home run or what? 50:00 Now you know why this passage applies in every age 50:03 because the false teachers have done the same thing 50:04 from age to age to age to age. 50:06 It hasn't changed. 50:08 Solomon says, 50:09 "There's nothing new under the sun." 50:10 So wherever there's a false teacher, 50:12 you're gonna see these things happen. 50:13 Notice what's going to happen. 50:15 They'll violate God's law. 50:16 They'll violate it. 50:17 They'll call that which is holy, unholy, 50:19 and that which is unholy, holy. 50:22 They say Sunday is a holy day, it's not. 50:24 Sabbath is holy, and they say it's not. 50:27 Hope I didn't confuse you. 50:29 The seventh day is sanctified. 50:32 But the world says, Sunday is the holy day. 50:35 Jesus sanctified the Sabbath at creation. 50:40 Jesus honored the Sabbath, 50:44 long after creation, and we're followers of Jesus. 50:47 How can you be a follower of Jesus 50:49 and think that Sunday is sanctified? 50:54 Don't change your channel, you're at the right place. 50:57 You want truth? This is the place to find it. 51:00 How can you be a follower of Jesus? 51:03 And He honored the Sabbath, and you say you don't have to. 51:06 And He says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." 51:08 And you say, "Sure I will, Lord, but not the Sabbath." 51:13 Exodus 20:8-10, 51:15 the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, thy God. 51:19 The question is not so much just what day, 51:21 the real question is, who is your God? 51:24 If you're following the Creator, 51:26 then He's got a day, 51:28 He's already blessed. Amen? 51:29 But look at what has happened. 51:31 They not only violated the law, 51:34 they have made no difference 51:35 between the holy and the unholy. 51:38 And they have profaned God's Sabbath. 51:40 Now the things that are unclean, 51:42 there's unclean foods, 51:44 you know what they say, "It's clean." 51:46 They say, "You can eat pork, lobster, shrimps, crab," 51:50 and God says, "It's unclean, don't eat it." 51:53 But the churches nowadays they read Acts Chapter 10, 51:56 and they read the vision of Peter 51:57 where the sheet comes down 51:58 and they'll stop at the place that's convenient. 52:02 They won't go further to see what the Bible really means. 52:05 God never made unclean animals clean. 52:09 God created His own sanitation department. 52:12 And nowadays we eat stuff that even animals won't eat. 52:14 And we say, but God made it clean. 52:17 I tell you, you can't make any thing, 52:19 you cannot make poison unpoison by praying over. 52:23 But that's what's happening today. 52:24 There are some churches, the pastor drinks alcohol. 52:27 There are some churches that serve communion, alcohol. 52:31 And the members go to get intoxicated 52:33 when communion is given. 52:35 And they call it holy. 52:39 Yet, alcohol cannot represent a sinless Jesus. 52:42 Amen somebody? Amen. 52:43 That's what's happening today. 52:45 God is saying, "So much is being done in My name 52:47 that is not connected to Me." 52:50 Wow! 52:51 And then finally, 52:53 they've hidden their eyes from my Sabbath. 52:54 They said, "Oh, man, that's done away with." 52:56 Well, it's strange. 52:58 It was blessed at creation, 53:00 kept through the whole Old Testament, 53:02 kept in the New Testament by Jesus, 53:04 kept by His disciples, 53:06 kept by the New Testament Church, 53:08 and is being kept today and it will be kept in heaven. 53:11 But they are those who said, 53:12 "Not me, not me. 53:15 I got my own day." 53:16 No, we don't have our own day. 53:18 If we are followers of the Lord, 53:20 He has His day. 53:21 Praise God, somebody. 53:22 That was a whole lot of breakdown. 53:24 Let's go to number 25. 53:25 Number 25. 53:27 Here it is. 53:28 How does the Bible teach us to recognize a false prophet? 53:32 How does the Bible... You know this is beautiful. 53:34 How does the Bible teach us to recognize a false prophet? 53:37 I praise God for these two next verses. 53:40 1 John 2:3-4. 53:43 You know, a lot of people say, "Well, then okay, Pastor, 53:45 you talked about false prophets. 53:46 Well, how could we know? 53:48 How will we know who's false and who's not false?" 53:51 It's not that hard. 53:52 It's like how could you know 53:54 between a diamond and its iconium, 53:55 a diamond and a rhinestone, 53:57 a diamond and good plastic. 53:59 It's called the acid test. 54:01 God's Word is the acid test. 54:02 Amen? Amen. 54:03 If it's from God's Word, it will stand the acid test. 54:06 And the Lord gives a simple, simple clarification 54:09 on how you could know. 54:10 How can I recognize a false prophet? 54:13 Let's go to 1 John 2:3-4. 54:14 Here's the answer. 54:16 The Bible says, "Now by this," now by what? 54:21 "Now by this, 54:23 we know that we know Him, if we," 54:28 say it together, "keep His commandments." 54:31 Look at verse 4. 54:32 And this is not my word, this is God's Word. 54:35 "He who says, 'I know him,' 54:38 and does not keep His commandments, 54:41 is a," what? 54:42 "Liar and the truth is not in Him.'" 54:47 Can it be clearer than that? 54:49 The Lord is saying, 54:50 here's the first question you ask a man 54:52 that says he's a spiritual man. 54:55 Do you honor The Ten Commandments? 54:58 And be specific, 55:00 including the seventh day Sabbath. 55:04 "Well, not that one." 55:06 See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya 55:08 and run for your life, run to the hills. 55:11 And keep asking that question till you find somebody 55:14 who honors The Ten Commandments of God. 55:16 Amen? Amen. 55:18 There are those today that say 55:19 the commandments of God can't be kept. 55:21 Why would Jesus say, 55:22 "If you love Me, keep My commandments," 55:23 but you can't do it? 55:25 Paul says, how we can do it. 55:27 I can do all things, come on together, 55:28 through Christ who does, what? 55:29 Strengthens me. 55:31 The door does not mock us. 55:34 Righteousness by faith means 55:36 that humanity by the power of divinity 55:40 can do what humanity has never been able to do. 55:43 I can do how many things? 55:45 All things through Christ who strengthens me. 55:48 And then if you find a religious leader that says, 55:52 "Well, you don't have to keep the commandments." 55:54 Read Revelation 12:17, 55:57 and you'll know that he's on the devil side, 55:59 because Revelation 12:17 says, 56:01 "And the dragon is angry with the woman, 56:05 dragon is wroth with the woman 56:07 and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, 56:10 which keep the commandments of God." 56:13 Did I say that right? 56:14 Yeah, keep the commandments of God 56:16 and have the testimony of Jesus. 56:18 The devil is upset with those who through Christ strength 56:21 is living in harmony with the commandments. 56:23 But preachers today say, "You can't keep it." 56:25 People that walk away from the truth say, 56:27 "You can't keep it." 56:28 Well, of course you can in your own strength. 56:30 But I can do all things, together, 56:32 through Christ who gives me the strength. 56:35 That's what righteousness by faith is really all about. 56:38 And then you getting a second chance 56:40 to do what you couldn't do the first time 56:41 is now being connected to divinity. 56:43 And what did Jesus say when He came out of the tomb, 56:46 "All power is given to Me." 56:48 Now, my brethren, 56:49 we have become partakers of a divine nature. 56:52 If we partake of that divine nature, 56:54 that divine nature has all power. 56:57 He connects that power to us, 56:58 so we can live a righteous life in a sinful world. 57:01 Amen? Amen. 57:02 So don't let people tell you, 57:04 they want to keep the commandments. 57:05 That's a lie. That's a lie. 57:07 That's why the message and I'm gonna pause on this one 57:09 because I got the next one, we do 26, 27, 28, 29. 57:12 And we'll go to the third phase 57:14 of the truth about spiritual Babylon. 57:16 But here's my point tonight, I guess you can think, 57:18 I guess you can see that somehow I'm very emphatic. 57:22 And what that means simply is this. 57:24 The Lord has given us the mission, 57:27 to call the truth the truth, 57:29 and to say that darkness is darkness. 57:32 For those of us 57:33 that are living according to the truth of God's Word, 57:36 we will never be deceived. 57:37 But for those of us that are not living 57:39 according to the truth of God's Word, 57:40 deception will come into our hearts 57:42 and to our minds. 57:43 So, friends, continue studying God's Word, 57:46 because the light that is lit by heaven 57:49 has never been put out and never will be put out. 57:52 Walk in the light as He is in the light 57:55 and you will have fellowship with one another 57:57 and the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse your sins. 57:59 Friends, one day, 58:00 it'll all come into A Sharper Focus. 58:03 God bless you. |
Revised 2019-06-20